Trump plays down post-Brexit market turmoil on Aberdeen visit

ABERDEEN, Scotland U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump played down market turmoil in the wake of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union on a visit to his Trump International golf course in Aberdeen on Saturday.

Wearing an open-necked shirt, a suit and a white baseball cap with his slogan “Make America great again”, Trump was asked if he was worried about the volatility in financial markets following Britain’s vote to leave the EU on Thursday.

“There’s always turmoil no matter where you go, no matter what you do,” he said.

Global stock markets lost about $ 2 trillion in value on Friday after the vote, while sterling fell to a 31-year low.

Trump, whose mother was Scottish, was greeted by around a dozen protesters at the course waving Mexican flags, rainbow flags for Gay Pride day and signs that read “Donald stop the hating” and “Shame on you for ruining a beautiful landscape.”

Trump last year proposed a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States as a response to Islamist attacks in Paris and California, causing a furor in Europe.

In an article in a Scottish newspaper earlier this year, Trump pointed to his determination to overcome local opposition to his golf course projects as an example of the leadership skills that Americans would get if he were to become president.

He also met with News Corporation media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his wife Jerry Hall, giving them a tour of the course in a golf cart.

(Reporting by Gerhard Mey and Carlo Allegri; writing by Elisabeth O’Leary. Editing by Jane Merriman)